Authorities that Elucidate Right: Athens, Jerusalem, and Washington

The Society recognizes the profound influence that the Classical Philosophy of Athens and the divine revelation of Jerusalem have exerted on the intellectual foundations of the west. The Peucinian Society understands that each generation must make its best attempt to reconcile the titanic controversy between Athens and Jerusalem that continue to underlie many of our debates, guide our living, and generate our vitality. Politeness and political correctness prevent these highly charged themes from explicitly emerging in public political dialogue, but we are committed to examining the interplay between faith, philosophy, and politics in a respectful environment. What sanctions the law? What are the legitimate authorities that might be able to affirm our judgments, assertions, morals, and arguments?

Introducing the Moral Foundations of Politics: Read more

Goals that Unify Culture: Searching for the 1001st Goal

“A thousand goals have there been so far, for there have been a thousand peoples. Only the yoke for the thousand necks is still lacking: the one goal is lacking. Humanity still has no goal…But tell me, my brothers, if humanity still lacks a goal—is humanity itself not still lacking too. Thus spoke Zarathustra” (Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra).

“We have seen that Nietzsche’s fundamental solution to the problem was to posit the production of great human being or geniuses as the goal of education. Such a goal he thought would provide unity to an otherwise fragmentary culture, and meaning to the otherwise egoistic lives of individuals. It is in many ways a beguiling solution, but it is also deeply at odds with the fundamental presuppositions of 21st century American democracy. For this reason, it ultimately fails to carry conviction. Even Nietzsche himself changed his mind about the nature of the goal to be aimed at and his later philosophy is littered with figures, free-spirits, supermen, new philosophers, who were meant to fill the role originally attributed to the genius. Perhaps this is one of Nietzsche’s most enduring lessons--not his specific solutions he came up with, but the tireless quest to find a goal for culture and education in a world that had lost its traditional bearings, and was headed into the long twilight of nihilism. Though he may not have discovered a goal that we find compelling today, he brings home the danger, especially for education, of doing without any goal at all.” (Professor Paul Franco, “Nietzsche on Liberal Education)

Peucinian's Gallery of Cultural Goals: Read more

Sources that Inspire Virtue: Connecting the Human to Something Higher

"'What then is Love?’ I asked; ‘Is he mortal?’ ‘No.’ ‘What then?’ ‘As in the former instance, he is neither mortal nor immortal, but in a mean between the two.’ ‘What is he, Diotima?’ ‘He is a great spirit (daimon), and like all spirits he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal.’ ‘And what,’ I said, ‘is his power?’ ‘He interprets,’ she replied, ‘between gods and men, conveying and taking across to the gods the prayers and sacrifices of men, and to men the commands and replies of the gods; he is the mediator who spans the chasm which divides them, and therefore in him all is bound together, and through him the arts of the prophet and the priest, their sacrifices and mysteries and charms, and all prophecy and incantation, find their way. For God mingles not with man; but through Love all the intercourse and converse of God with man, whether awake or asleep, is carried on. The wisdom which understands this is spiritual; all other wisdom, such as that of arts and handicrafts, is mean and vulgar.” (Diotima)

Rethinking the Common Good: Reinvigorating interest in the Question

"It ought always to be remembered, that literary institutions are founded and endowed for the common good, and not for the private advantage of those who resort to them for education. It is not that they may be enabled to pass through life in an easy or reputable manner, but that their mental powers may be cultivated and improved for the benefit of society. If it be true, that no man should live to himself, we may safely assert, that every man who has been aided by a public institution to acquire an education and to qualify himself for usefulness, is under peculiar obligations to exert his talents for the public good." (Reverend Joseph McKeen, First President of Bowdoin College, September 2, 1802, During his Inaugural Address)

Bowdoin's stated commitment to the common good is stronger that ever. 2007 witnessed the construction of the Center for the Common Good. After meeting with the director of the Center, The Peucinian Society agreed to take responsibility for ensuring that "the Common Good" does not deteriorate into an empty formalism. The Society believes that there is a strong temptation for students to claim "I have my idea of the Common Good, you have yours, no one should impose their idea of the Common Good on anyone else." This attitude, unfortunately, does not ask us to think about the Common Good - to sit down during meals or congregate in the quad to discuss competing visions of the Common Good. Through publications, speakers, and targeted debates the Peucinian Society intends to reinvigorating discourse about the Common Good. Different clubs, academic departments, and extracurricular activities contribute to the Common Good in their own ways-- the Peucinian Society will contribute to those efforts by bringing the question of the Common Good to the forefront of Bowdoin minds.

The History of the Common Good at Bowdoin College